1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an arm pivot shaft support mechanism configured to support an arm extended from an instrument unit with an internal electric instrument incorporated therein, as well as to an imaging device configured to support a camera head in a pivotally rotatable manner via an arm extended from the camera head.
2. Related Art
With the purpose of enhancing the convenience and improving the usability of an imaging device, a pivot shaft support mechanism for supporting a camera head in a pivotally rotatable manner by means of an arm structure has typically been adopted to change the imaging area of the imaging device (see JP-A-H10-191105). Such a mechanism has been applied for diversity of instrument units including electric instruments incorporated therein.
In the technique disclosed in the above cited reference, a cord for power supply and imaging signal output to an internal camera incorporated in the camera head is exposed at the position of the pivot shaft support mechanism.
From the viewpoints of the improved appearance and the cord protection, there is, however, a desire to cover the cord in the pivot shaft support mechanism. The camera head supported in the pivotally rotatable manner is rotated about a pivot shaft in both directions that are opposite to each other. Simply providing a cover on the pivot shaft support mechanism enables the cord to be concealed and protected by the cover during rotation of the camera head in only one direction but causes the cord to be exposed during rotation of the camera head in the reverse direction. This prior art method thus does not practically solve the problem. Such a cord covering problem arises not only in the imaging device but in other various devices equipped with the pivot shaft support mechanism.